Pages

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Hey all! Sorry for my absence the last few days. This is a crazy time of year at my job, so it was tough to find the time and energy to devote to my nails. But I'm back with an extra awesome Butter London for you guys today!

With high-end polishes, sometimes it can take a bit of wavering and debating before I decide to pull the trigger on a sale. But when you've got a polish as unique and stunning as Two Fingered Salute, it's not up for discussion; I'm buying it. This weathered seafoam green with green microshimmer and copper flecks has got to be one of the best polishes BL has ever produced. I've never seen anything like it. It's got an heirloom, old world vibe to it that somehow still feels wonderfully cutting edge and contemporary. It's very boho-glam.

BL formulas can be a little hit or miss in my experience, but Two Fingered Salute is one of the good ones. It applies nice and smoothly. I used three coats here.

I've never seen Two Fingered Salute in an actual store, so I think it's an online-only color, but it's absolutely worth ordering! To my knowledge, there are no dupes of this shade, making it truly worth the splurge. This polish is something really special!

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

I am a (somewhat recovering) Coca-Cola addict, so Coca-Cola-themed nail polish is an easy sell for me, especially one modeled after the iconic shade of Coca-Cola red. As easy as it is to get burnt out on red polish, there's something super sexy and powerful about having that perfect, killer red.

Sooooo gorgeous! This is an instant top-five of all-time red for me. It's got a flawless formula that covers in two coats and that shine is just redonk.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

I'll tell you upfront that this is probably going to be one of the most random manicures I've ever done here on Nailed. That's because my boyfriend and I tend to feed each other's weird/trashy/dorky hobbies and perhaps the best example of that, dear readers, is our shared love of professional wrestling. I know, I know, it's really stupid and basically a soap opera, but I have fond memories of watching it with my dad growing up (his favorite wrestler was Stone Cold Steve Austin) and I can't help but love the shameless spectacle and over-the-top theatricality of it all. Just because it's not real doesn't mean it's not entertaining!

So when I told my boyfriend that this week's TT theme gave him free license to suggest whatever he wanted for my nails, the answer was pretty immediate: "Well, I'm going to have to come up with the right wrestler." I will give him credit in that he didn't just pick a wrestler at random or go with who he likes the most, but instead took some time to think about which wrestler's outfits and gimmicks might work well with nail art. He wound up choosing two of the most visually distinctive wrestlers of the WWE: the tag team of Goldust and Stardust.

There are lots of directions you could take this in--I mean, look at these guys--but I think the main reason my boyfriend chose Goldust and Stardust is because he wanted to see me attempt to incorporate Stardust's gloves into my nail art design. The gloves have an interlocking design that forms a star when Stardust puts his hands together, like so:

Naturally, this mani had to have gold and black as its primary colors, so I started with a base of OPI Rollin' In Cashmere, a yellow gold, and topped it off with OPI Comet In The Sky to bring in some black, plus its iridescent glitters add some sparkle to play off Gold and Stardust's whole cosmic vibe . Then I freehanded the interlocking star design onto my thumbs using Rimmel Black Satin.

It was super weird trying to figure out how to photograph this on my own, so hopefully you get the idea of the general effect...

So yep, wrestling nails. I gotta admit, it was a fun theme to play around with and I was surprised by just how many potential manicure ideas started to pop into my head once my boyfriend told me his selection. I can't wait to see what everyone else's significant others dreamed up for them this week. I think this is gonna be such a fun theme!

Sunday, November 23, 2014

My boyfriend and I went to a comic con over the weekend, where I cosplayed as Daenerys Targaryen from A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones. (Sooo much fun!! This was our first con together and even though it was super crowded, we still had an awesome time. I could have just stood around and people-watched all day there.) So of course, my nails had to be part of the costume as well. Since the Khaleesi probably doesn't have access to nail polish while she's roaming deserts and conquering cities, I kept it really simple with a clean, crisp nude: Sally Hansen Stocking Nude.

This beauty was a part of last year's collaboration with Rodarte for the Complete Salon Manicure line. I fell in love with it after seeing swatches online, but I couldn't find it at any of my usual polish haunts. Thankfully I was able to snag it at retail pricing on Ebay!

The formula is lovely and only needs two coats for full opacity. The CSM brush has always been a little wife for my tastes, but damn if their formulas aren't some of the best in the business!

What are you up to this weekend? After our con, the bf and I got together with some friends for an early "Thanksgiving" meal and we all are waaaaayyyy too much food! So worth it though. :)

After all the effort it took to put it on, I felt like I may as well wear it as a full mani rather than just a swatch, so I tried to salvage it by slapping some glitter on top--namely, Naild'it Birthday Balloons, a matter glitterbomb with a rainbow of colored hexes. Really, I'm not sure anything could save Yellow Brick Road--it looks pretty friggin' gross on me--but Birthday Balloons certainly brightens and pretties it up a bit.

Birthday Balloons was a limited edition from way back, so unfortunately this is one indie polish that's been lost to the ages. But Naild'it is still up and running, so if you dig Birthday Balloons, give their website a look!

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Ugh, OPI. Just ugh... So yeah, this is apparently going to be a thing. *sigh* Let's just get through this. I think the whole Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon is really silly, but hey, I'm sure I like plenty of stuff that other people think is dumb, so if it's your thing, more power to you.

L to R: My Silk Tie, Shine For Me, Cement The Deal

L to R: Romantically Involved, Dark Side Of The Mood, Embrace The Grey

While I won't be jumping on the Fifty Shades bandwagon anytime soonl, I will say that there seem to be some pretty greys here and it is nice of OPI to offer the whole collection in a minis set.

The Fifty Shades of Grey Collection officially launches on January 1, 2015. Will you be buying anything from the collection? Any plans to see the movie?

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Hockey is the only sport I really follow, so that made this week's TT theme a no-brainer. Hockeytown is one of Detroit's many nicknames, after all, so we are big into hockey here and I've been watching Red Wings games with my dad for as long as I can remember. My boyfriend and I don't have cable, so I can't watch games as often as I would like anymore, but I make sure to catch them whenever I'm home visiting my family!

Now, the Wings' logo is a winged wheel, but there's no way in hell I can draw that, so I decided to go the simpler route of the classic symbol of Detroit--and by extension, its sports teams--the Old English D.

I did an Old English D manicure a while back our hometown-inspired manis, but the Wings-style D is a little different. Detroit's baseball team, the Tigers, use a traditional Old English D, but when the Wings wear Old English D's (such as on their throwback jerseys for the Winter Classic games), it usually looks like this:

Of course, since this is a Red Wings manicure, I had to use some red polish. So I started with a base of OPI Coca-Cola Red (gorgeous red, by the way) and then used a white Sally Hansen nail striper for the D.

So yeah, not the most elaborate mani ever, but hopefully it gets the point across. Be sure to take a look at my Twinsies' sports manis this week too! I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that I'll be the only one who chooses a hockey team this week, but you never know! ;)

Monday, November 17, 2014

If you're a fan of glitter manis, chances are you've used the foil removal method at some point. (If you've never heard of it, fear not--I'll go into more depth in just a bit!) It's a lifesaver but I gotta admit: Sometimes I find it to be a real hassle to cut up all the foil and I hate having to pick off all the linty bits the cotton balls leave behind. So what if there was an even easier way to take off glitter manis?

Well, Holly from Willow Lux Creations has the solution: Glitter Gone Ready Packs! Each pack contains 10 pre-cut pieces of aluminum foil and 10 felt squares. The packs come in 3"x4" bags, making them
easy to store at home or travel with on the go.

While felt and foil are readily available materials and you could, in theory, makes these packs up yourself, what I appreciate
about the Glitter Gone Ready Packs is the speed and convenience. The felt and foil are pre-cut to the perfect size, so everything is ready to go--no cutting and no guesswork required. You just open up the bag and get to it! At $10 for a set of 10 packs, they're also reasonably priced. So to me, the time and effort you save are worth it.

Before we go any further, if you're unfamiliar with the foil method, here's the gist, as promised: You start by wetting the felt with polish remover of your choice. (I personally use Zoya Remove Plus, but any kind will work.) Press the felt against your fingernail, then wrap your finger using a piece of foil, to keep the felt in place. Repeat this for all five fingers, doing one hand at a time. It should look like this:

Let everything soak for 5-10 minutes before removing. Press down on your nail as you slide the felt off. If there is any remaining glitter on or around the nail, you can easily wipe it away with the felt.

I've used the foil method many times, but it's always been with cotton. I've heard people rave about how much better felt works, so I was excited to try it and see the difference for myself. I gotta say, I will never go back to doing the foil method with cotton balls or pads again. The felt is sooooo much easier!

There are a couple of advantages to using felt that I noticed. First, the felt is a lot easier to saturate with polish remover, so you don't need as much of it--just a pump of Remove Plus did the job for me--to get the felt nice and soaked. Felt is also scrubbier than cotton, so if you do happen to have any stubborn stray glitter pieces, they're much easier to wipe away than with a cotton ball. But the best part is that felt doesn't get all linty and clingy like cotton does, plus it just takes off the glitter better, plain and simple! And in case you were wondering, although the Glitter Gone Ready Packs use colored felt, (Holly offers a variety of colors to choose from on her site too) there wasn't any staining or dye transfer from the felt to my nails.

I loved how convenient the Glitter Gone Ready Pack was to use and it worked flawlessly too! These little packs are such great time-savers. If you're a glitter gal on-the-go, definitely check them out!

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Zoya Cosmo is a silver textured polish with holographic silver glitter pieces. This is one of the original Magical PixieDusts, which featured a denser, chunkier look. People seemed less enthusiastic about the latest round of Magic PixieDusts, released this summer, but Zoya did a fantastic job with the first installment. They took everything awesome about the original PixieDusts and threw on some extra sparkly holo goodness! What's not to love?

A big thank you to the ever-wonderful Amanda for hooking me up with this beauty! :)

The most common complaint I read against the summer Magic PixieDusts was that they weren't fully opaque. But the originals are much denser, so you can easily build them up to full coverage. I used three coats here. You do have to guide the larger glitter pieces away from the free edge of the nail and be careful not to overload your brush, but otherwise, application was pretty good.

Are you a fan of the Magic PixieDusts? They can be somewhat polarizing, but you know where I stand on them! ;)

Friday, November 14, 2014

The Legend of Zelda. Indie polish. Glitter. Put 'em together and I just gotta have it. Lumina Lacquer Triforce, named for the mythical relic from the LoZ video game series, is a holographic gold glitterbomb with hexes, hearts, stars, circles and triangles in a clear base. I've paired it with Barielle Rain In Spain, a periwinkle creme, for this mani.

The formula has a nice consistency to it and is easy to spread across the nail, although I do recommend turning the bottle upside down for a minute or two before applying Triforce. The larger glitter pieces tend to settle toward the bottom of the bottle, so they need a little extra help to get them to surface. After that, you can easily get a ton of them on your brush.

Triforce is so much fun and I think it would look great over virtually any color. But I especially love how it looks over a pastel like Rain In Spain. If you're a gold lover, then you need Triforce in your collection!

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

I hate that the holiday season seems to start earlier and earlier every year. It doesn't give us enough time to enjoy fall! Fall used to be my least favorite season when I was younger (thanks, allergies) but now that I'm older, I love sweater weather, warm drinks, fall-scented candles...and of course, fall nail colors! Today I've got an extra special fall collection to show you: Barielle's Jetsetter Collection! Without any further ado, let's take a look.

First up is Kiss Me Kate, a putty creme. I love me a good putty polish and this is such a perfect one. It's nice and clean but with just a hint of grunge to it. This is two coats.

Autumn in Seoul is a rich brown with intense copper shimmer; in fact, it almost looks like a foil. I'm super picky about browns but this was a standout from the collection for me. I love the deep base color and the sparkle is phenomenal. You do have to be a bit mindful of brushstrokes with this one, but otherwise the formula is wonderful. I used two coats here.

A deep midnight blue shimmer, Midnight In Paris is appropriately named. This is a stunning jewel tone that brings to mind all-time classics like OPI Russian Navy. It's dark and rich without looking near-black and the shimmer adds a lot of life to this shade. Midnight In Paris definitely has a potential for staining, so don't skip the basecoat and be careful with your cuticles. This is two coats.

Irish Eyes is a mossy green creme. Love, love, LOVE this polish! It is perfection from top to bottom: utterly gorgeous color and a one-coater, to boot. Irish Eyes is easily my favorite Jetsetter shade.

The other green in the collection is Gondola Ride, a dusty sage creme. It's a dusty green, so y'all know I'm gonna be all about this color! Unfortunately it's got the most problematic formula in the collection. It's not even bad, just "eh," whereas the others are all pretty stinkin' fantastic. It's kinda runny and took three coats to build up to opacity.

Then to close things out, we have Rain In Spain, a periwinkle creme. This is a bit of an unexpected color for a fall collection, but I dig it. The formula is ultra-buttery and almost a one-coater. I used two just to level everything out.

This is one of my favorite collections Barielle has done! There's not a single bad shade in the bunch, but my favorites are Irish Eyes, Autumn In Seoul and Gondola Ride. You can purchase the Jetsetter Collection from Barielle's website.

Disclosure: These polishes were sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Choosing your least favorite polish is a tall order. I don't know if Deborah Lippmann Yellow Brick Road is my absolute least favorite, but it's up there. On paper, this polish has potential: a squishy, shiny canary yellow jelly. But throw in a crappy, super sheer formula and the fact that warm yellows tend to look terrible on my pale skin and this is what you get... Enjoy!

Yep, it looks like baby barf--and not even in an ugly-pretty kinda way, which I'm all about. It's just...well, ugly. I think Yellow Brick Road would look nicer on someone with darker skin, but sadly, the formula is unforgivably awful. It is painfully sheer, even for a jelly. It is literally impossible to build this polish up to opacity on its own--I've tried! But for how sheer it is, it's also ridiculously thick. You have to leave ample dry time between layers, otherwise you wind up with a goopy, lumpy mess.

I learned my lesson from the last time I wore this polish and not only gave myself plenty of time between coats, but also used Barielle's Natural Nail Camouflage as my base coat. Even with two coats of Nail Camouflage, it took four coats of Yellow Brick Road to get what you see here, which is still not completely opaque!

End rant. There you have it: my least favorite polish--or at least, one that deserves a very dishonorable mention. Don't shell out the big bucks for this one!

Sunday, November 9, 2014

OPI My Voice Is A Little Norse is the last of the four polishes I'll be showing you from the OPI Nordic Collection minis set. This is a grey jelly base packed with silver holo glitter pieces. I've got a few sparkles similar to this one in my collection already, but what I can I say? I'm powerless against a good glitter!

Intentionally blurry shot to show off the holo better...

Up until this polish, none of the minis in this set have given me any issues, formula-wise. But My Voice Is A Little Norse was really thick and goopy. It reminded me of why I generally don't like minis: difficult formulas that you have little control over due to the teeny tiny brush. However, the one nice thing about such a thick formula is that this polish was nice and opaque. I only needed two coats.

Plus I gotta say that I love that this has a tinted base rather than a clear one. It not only helps distinguish My Voice Is a Little Norse from all the other silver holo bombs out there, it also makes it easier to cover up any VNL.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

I really hope the name for this polish was an intentional Simpson's reference on China Glaze's part, because to have such an awesome polish as an homage to my favorite Simpsons character, Ralph Wiggum, would truly be icing on the cake.

I don't think China Glaze has ever made a polish quite like Choo-Choo Choose You. To me, this is hands-down the star of their fall collection, All Aboard. It's a difficult polish to describe, but I guess if I had to try and sum it up, I'd say it's a deep, smoky taupe base with dense, color-shifting shimmer that changes from gold to green. The shimmer is truly breathtaking and it's what really makes this polish something special.

I had a hard time capturing the shift on camera; the green comes out in low light, making it tough to get a decent photo of it. I put up one quick snap I was able to manage, but I'm going to try and get some more later today, so I'll update if I get some better pics of it!

*drool* Isn't she gorgeous?! China Glaze really outdid themselves with this one. The shimmer is so stunning and it's such a unique color. This definitely falls into the category of what I like to call "car crash polishes"--y'know, the ones where the shimmer is so distractingly mesmerizing that whenever the light hits it, your eyes are instantly drawn to it, no matter what you're doing at the moment! So wear with caution, ladies. ;)

The formula is touch thin, but nothing too bad. I used three coats here.

If you get only one polish from All Aboard, make it Choo-Choo Choose You. The shimmer is unlike anything I've seen before in a mainstream polish and the base is a deliciously rich and creamy taupe that's so perfect for fall.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Azature Lavender Diamond is a seriously misnamed color. It's really more of a...dusty magenta, I guess? Whatever it is, it ain't lavender. But it is a very pretty creme with a beautiful shine to it--could have something to do with the fact that every Azature polish is made with a real black diamond!

The formula is stellar and very, very close to being a one-coater. I used two total, just to cover up a few stray patches.

Just for funsies, I decided to try mattifying Lavender Diamond, using Jamberry's Matte Top Coat. As much as I love the high-gloss finish of Azature's polishes, I thought it'd be interesting to mix things up a bit. I don't wear mattes too often, but I've been itching to wear a matte purple lately.

So which way do you prefer this polish? I kinda like it matte, myself!

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

We're keeping it simple for this week's Twinsie Tuesday with a minimalistic theme. To me, minimalistic means a palette-cleansing, blank canvas kind of shade, so I chose Deborah Lippmann I'm Not Innocent, a peachy nude creme.

This is apparently a more obscure Lippmann. I don't see it talked about a lot online. But it's a beautiful, clean nude that would look especially nice on tan skin. Even if you're not tan, the contrast helps create the appearance that you are!

While the color is lovely, the formula was not the greatest. It's thin and pretty streaky, leaving noticeable bald patches that you have to work to even out. It also doesn't self-level well, so by trying to cover the bald spots, you can inadvertently create lumps. Couple all those issues with the fact that my bottle of top coat is on its last legs and you get a total nail nightmare. So I'm really sorry if the application here doesn't look the best. I love the color, but hate the formula...

Who knew a minimalistic mani could be so difficult?! Hopefully my Twinsies had better luck!

Monday, November 3, 2014

I got a big split in one of my nails over the weekend, so I had to chop all my nails down to nubbins to match. This is the shortest my nails have been in a long time and it's bumming me out. :( So I wanted to wear a color that still compliments my super stub nails and to me, metallics look great on any nail length. I delved into my untrieds and came up with China Glaze Swing Baby, a champagne foil.

Swing Baby came out around the time I started getting really into polish. It was originally part of 2010's Vintage Vixen Collection, but I picked it up more recently, when it became a core polish at Sally.

This is a surprisingly complex polish. The foil finish really shines (no pun intended) here. You get a lot more depth than you would with a chrome or frost. When you look closely, you can see the individual flecks of silver and gold; reminds me a bit of OPI Designer...De Better from the first Muppets collection.

The formula's a little sheer, needing four coats for complete opacity. I was also disappointed that Swing Baby chipped on me--twice, even--after less than a day of wear.

But while the formula may not have been a complete success, I still really like Swing Baby. It's a perfect foil for the holidays and one of the great things about champagne polishes is their neutral undertone means they look amazing on pretty much anybody. Swing Baby is definitely a polish worth revisiting if you're looking for a foil fix.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

I hatethe feeling of dry hands--absolutely hate it. But it's tough for me to find hand creams that offer adequate moisture without leaving behind a thick, greasy residue. So today I thought I'd talk about one of my favorites: Deborah Lippmann Rich Girl.

Rich Girl is formulated with shea butter, avocado oil and jojoba oil for hydration, as well as antioxidant-rich grapefruit and algae extracts. But perhaps one of the most noteworthy aspects of Rich Girl is the fact that it has an SPF of 25. We all know the importance of wearing sunscreen on our face, but it's easy to forget about your hands and how frequently we expose them to the sun too--even incidental exposure like the sunlight coming through the car window as you're driving. Most hand creams don't have any SPF and so I love that Rich Girl does!

Another unique thing about Rich Girl is the cap. Rather than a traditional flip cap, Rich Girl has a twist top, so you can easily open it up without ruining your manicure. It's a pretty ingenious concept for us nail gals, but the execution leaves a bit to be desired. Any time you twist the top back to the closed position, it pushes a little more product out. You can just take this into account when you're determining how much cream to dispense initially, but it's still an annoying--and potentially wasteful--design flaw. And really, on principle, a hand cream that costs as much as Rich Girl does shouldn't have any packaging problems.

There is a light floral scent to this cream. I don't find it unpleasant
or overpowering, but I would personally prefer if it was unscented. On a day-to-day basis, I am usually wearing perfume and/or body lotion that has its own scent and I don't want my hand cream to mask or alter whatever fragrance I already have on. As I mentioned, the fragrance is not heavy, so it's not a deal breaker for me, but it's worth noting.

But those issues aside, Rich Girl does get a lot right. As the name implies, it is a very luxurious cream. But rich doesn't have to mean greasy. While just a little dab of Rich Girl will go a long way, (A pearl-sized amount is typically about all I use at a time) my skin drinks it right up. At first it always looks like the cream isn't going to sink in as I spread it across my hands, but then it just melts away, leaving my hands feeling luxuriously smooth, supple and protected. It makes a fantastic cuticle cream as well, so this really is a treat for all of your hands.

Rich Girl comes in a 3 oz size for $28. The asking price may be high, but that tube will last you a surprisingly long time. You need such a small amount of product and it hydrates for hours. She ain't cheap, but Rich Girl delivers!